Lillian Russell was a singer by trade, steam trains chuffed along the Third Avenue "L," women were publicly respected and the red light district extended for blocks when Edward B. Marks started publishing songs in Manhattan. Songs became hits then in the city's lowest dives. Publishers made the rounds themselves, bought drinks for the performers, distributed chorus sheets among the customers. Edward B. Marks is still publishing songs at 62, as acute to the value of a plug by Rudy Vallée as he was to one by Lottie Gilson, the curvey "Little Magnet,''...
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